A rehab program rents the apartment underneath mine. This means that junkies camp out in the hallways and loom by the front door of the building until they are let in.

This also means that there is a lot of random screaming in the middle of the night.

Last night’s drunken screamfest was particularly vicious:

Judd: “Ugh. They are at it again. What is going on?”
Me: “Junkie neighbors. I dunno. Lemme sleep.”

The screaming continues, and then we hear a LOUD gunshot from the room underneath mine.

Judd: “…was…was that a gunshot?”
Me: “Welcome to the neighborhood. Lemme sleep.”
Judd: “…WHAT? Aren’t you going to call the police?”
Me: “…if I called the police every time I heard a gunshot…”
Judd: “But this is RIGHT underneath you…”
Me: “I have international tax law at 8:30am. If I call the police I won’t be awake for class.”

More screaming from downstairs…someone starts wailing…

Judd: “…”
Me: “Fine. If there’s another gunshot I’ll call. Hopefully the bullet doesn’t go through the floor and hit us. I should have bought a thicker mattress…damn Ikea…”

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I ran into one of my old neighbors last week at Little Tijuana restaurant. She asked, “Do you think the landlord knows he’s a slumlord?” I wasn’t sure then, but today I went to the management company’s office in between classes to tell him just that.

I was sick of the building drama (urine, feces, and trash in the hallway, domestic violence and junkies…) and I was going to give my landlord a piece of my righteous indignation Marguerite Oswald style.

The management company’s office manager claimed that she only recently found out about the hot mess:

Office manager: “Oh, don’t worry. They are being evicted and should be out real shortly. The first complaint we received was last Thursday!”

That was a lie because I called about the junkies weeks ago. That had a feeling that they weren’t keeping any record of the problem, which is why I went in.

The manager said that they needed police calls that identified a specific apartment to quickly process evictions.

She also said I wouldn’t have to give 2 months notice or a new deposit if I moved to another one of the company’s buildings, which is a possibility if more gunslinging junkies move into the building…ugh.